The Next Big Thing? (Editorial)

Arkansas got several pieces of good economic news last week: Aerojet Rocketdyne announced a $50 million expansion in East Camden and North Little Rock got an Amazon distribution center that will create at least 65 jobs.

But just as intriguing is the prospect that south Arkansas will become a major source for lithium, the metal used in cellphone batteries, laptop computers and electric cars. It’s a subject examined in a Page 1 story by Assistant Editor Kyle Massey.

A Canadian company, Standard Lithium Ltd., hopes to place a demonstration plant in Union County that would use a new method to extract lithium from the state’s brine deposits. “It has the potential to be very significant,” said Brandon Barnette, economic development project manager for the El Dorado-Union County Chamber of Commerce. “If the pilot plant proves economically viable, it will mean many jobs and an outpouring of investment in this part of the state.”

Standard Lithium CEO Robert Mintak said that south Arkansas “is the only practical place on earth to test the new extraction method,” Massey tells us.

The use of lithium batteries in electric cars is expected to grow seven-fold by 2025, according to industry publisher Metal Bulletin, and though Mintak stresses that producing marketable lithium in Arkansas could take years, success could mean an economic bonanza for the state.

Another must-read story in this issue of Arkansas Business is Senior Editor Mark Friedman’s story of how one unsolicited fax led to a $12.5 million judgment against a New Jersey businessman.

We revere the rule of law. We wouldn’t exist without it. But sometimes, as in this case, “the law is a ass — a idiot.” And the people who would exploit a bad law only serve to further lower the public’s opinion of lawyers.